Icewear Vezzo has previously made comments about Eminem that were perceived as slander, but it turns out that he actually considers his fellow Detroit MC to be among the all-time greats.
On Monday (September 18), the 33-year old shared a backstage photograph next to Em that was taken at 50 Cent’s Final Lap stop in Detroit, during which he and Shady both made explosive cameos.
AD LOADING...
“Finally @eminem,” he captioned one of his two posts embracing the D12 veteran. “at the end of the day you still The biggest inspiration.”
Check out the social media footage below:
During a conversation with HipHopDX in 2020, Icewear Vezzo said that the “Lose Yourself” rapper no longer has a connection to the hood like he once did.
“For us, it was like Eminem was out of touch, so he wasn’t anybody we could actually relate to,” he said. “We were never in touch with Eminem. In the hood, in our ghettos and shit, back when he first came out, yeah, [Eminem] was like a hero for us.
“So we expected to see him, to be able to touch him, and we’re like ‘yeah we got somebody that got out from Detroit. This about to go down, he opened the gates up.’ But it didn’t go that way.”
Vezzo made it clear that he wasn’t saying that Eminem didn’t do anything for the city or the hood. Contrarily, he praised him and his philanthropic efforts.
AD LOADING...
“We always wanted Em to play the position that Royce Da 5’9″ played, but he doesn’t, so he’s not a hero for us no more,” Vezzo explained. “Royce Da 5’9″ is like the president of the Marshall Mathers Foundation, and he’s from the hood. You’re able to see him, he going to come out. He fucked with n-ggas and he reached out, he checked on us, he’d pull up to the studio, he’d pull up to the club.”
Last year, he discussed the matter once again during a Breakfast Club interview to clarify that his comments weren’t hostile.
AD LOADING...
“At the end of the day, it was misunderstanding,” Vezzo said. “As a fan, I love Eminem music. I grew up listening to Eminem when I was a shorty. I got real love for Royce. One thing about Royce is, he’s always show love to us, always supports us. He always shouted out. He does everything he can to help us out. He really do. I can’t take that away from Royce. But shit, it is what it is. We don’t know Eminem. We don’t know hommie. I don’t know anybody that ever met him. Ever seen him.”
He added: “Em’s an icon. I idolize him at one point and I do think he’s the greatest rapper of all time, at least one of them, and that’s never gonna change. He have done a lot for the community, for the city of Detroit. Ain’t nobody taking that none away.”
